May 21-Gin and It

The Gin and It has an interesting name since it is literally the recipe of the cocktail minus the bitters. The gin obviously represents gin and the it represents Italian or sweet vermouth. Back in the day most sweet vermouth was Italian and Dry was French. This cocktail came from Stan Jones’s “Jones’s Complete Bar Guide” which is famous for a lot of rum, sherry and orange juice cocktails. I am taking this opinion from the Educated Barfly as the book itself is more expensive than chartreuse. I was surprised to see this cocktail since it is essentially a Manhattan with Orange Bitters instead of Angostura.

According to Dale DeGroff it used to be called the Sweet Martini. This cocktail made its way to London during Prohibition. Your enjoyment of this cocktail relies heavily on liking Sweet Vermouth I will say but if you do give this one a mix.

Full judging here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZwTyIe6H6mlE9iT1TgS1pwHrUm1ixBr4QfliGBpR0GA/edit?tab=t.0 .